Well, the summer is here.
I went to Barbecues Galore to see if I could get one of those electric grills you could use inside the house to do some grilling.
The salesperson was VERY unhelpful (translated: he didn't know jack), but he said, "Take a look around". I did find an electric grill but it was for outside use only, with a long heavy cord. It was kind of steep, almost $180. So I looked around some more and then thought I should get one of those propane grills. There was one for $49.99, but it was a really basic unit, all metal and pretty small. It looked just like the one my grandfather complained about, so I kept looking.
The Weber Q grills caught my eye. The smallest one (Q100/120) could hold ten 1/4lb. hamburger patties or 16 hot dogs. Perfect for a single guy like me. What kind of sold me on it was that it's completely portable, you can take it anywhere. So, I decided to get that and a rolling cart. The top of the line (300) is huge and has two burners but it was around $300. I opted for the 120 which had fold-out shelves, and was a reasonable $149. So I went back to the salesperson to tell him what I wanted, but he was on the phone gabbing with one of his friends. So I walked around the store and watched the other customers who were helping themselves really as the salespeople were standing around looking bored! Finally, I saw what appeared to be the manager (he was dressed differently than the other yokels) and I walked up to him and, opening the Weber brochure, said, "I want this and this". He told me to meet him at the counter and so I walked over there and stood at the cashier station. The guy on the phone put his buddy on hold and finally asked me if I needed anything. I said one of the other guys was taking care of it. Being satisfied with that answer, he talked to his buddy again for another 10 minutes.
The manager came out with the grill and the cart and put it on the counter and proceeded to ring it up. I got some tools, a brush and a canister of propane (only $4). When my credit card went through, I signed the receipt, and then the manager said, "Have a good day," and walked off. So I'm standing there with two big bulky packages, no shopping cart (oh, did I mention they didn't have any of those?) and a bag full of implements. So, I struggled to get it off the counter (the sales people were "busy") and lumbered my way to the door. One of the other customers opened the door for me. Out in the parking lot, the propane canister fell out of the bag, which was perched precariously on top of the two boxes. Hindsight told me I should have hung the bag on my arm, it wasn't that heavy. So I went to the car, dropped off the boxes and watched three cars nearly drive over my propane canister which was rolling all over the road! That would have been a sight to see. The canister wasn't damaged too bad, but it had landed right on the valve, bending it a little bit.
Of course, I cursed the sales people all the way home. I guess they're used to selling $4000 grills so dealing with a guy wanting a little starter grill was beneath them.
No comments:
Post a Comment